New Review LG G7 ThinQ
LG G7 THINQ REVIEW
Hot on the heels of the the V30S ThinQ is the G7 ThinQ, LG's other flaghship phone for 2018. There are many similarities between these two, but also a couple of significant differences.
First, the G7 has an IPS screen rather than OLED, and is benefits from the newer, faster Snapdragon 845 processor. It also gains the ability to take portrait photos with blurry backgrounds (which the G6 lacked) and has a traditional headphone socket, yet is waterproof.
LG has also beefed up the audio with a bigger, louder speaker and used some nifty screen technology to make the screen one of the brightest around.
With a sensible price, the G7 could be the Android flagship you've been waiting for - though the OnePlus 6 is a good chunk cheaper if you can live with its compromises.
Don't worry about that ThinQ branding: it's a suffix LG is now using for all of its products that have "artificial intelligence". We'll get to the AI later...
See what's changed in the LG G7 ThinQ over the LG G6.
LG G7 THINQ: PRICE & AVAILABILITY
In the UK the G7 goes on sale 31 May, though LG is quoting 2 June for the US where we expect it will cost around US$599.
The first few sites in the UK have listed the phone for pre-order, with Unlocked-Mobiles charging £594 for the SIM-free version - check out our guide to the best LG G7 deals to get live updates on the best UK prices.
It's more expensive from Clove, which has listed the three UK colours (see below) for £629.
The V30 (the near-identical phone to the V30S) launched in 2017 at £799/US$809, making it one of the more expensive flagships. Since then, though, it has dropped to £599/US$599, which means it is much better value. And, of course, a direct competitor to the G7.
The OnePlus 6 costs £469 / US$429, which will make it a very tempting alternative to many people, but although it also has a SnapDragon 845 and a great OLED screen, it isn't waterproof, nor does it support wireless charging.
Colour options are similar to the V30, including Aurora Black and Moroccan Blue, and there's also Platinum Grey. Sadly the red version, Raspberry Rose, won't be sold in the UK.
LG G7 THINQ: DESIGN AND BUILD
LG has clearly stuck with the G6's design and refined it for the G7. It's a Gorilla Glass 5 sandwich: a curved glass back is order of the day for 2018 flagships, and unlike the Huawei P20 and OnePlus 6, the G7 supports QI wireless charging, so the glass isn't simply there to look pretty. (But you can keep it looking prettier for longer with these cases).
There's IP68 water resistance, but when other manufacturers use this as an excuse to drop the headphone jack, not LG. Audio is one of the key features of the phone, so it's great to see a 3.5mm jack on the bottom next to the USB-C port.'
Whereas previous LG phones have had their power button integrated with the fingerprint scanner, the G7 ThinQ has a normal sleep/wake button on the right-hand side.
Unusually for an Adroid phone, volume buttons are opposite, like an iPhone.
Below the volume buttons is another that's dedicated to the Google Assistant, a bit like Samsung's Bixby button. If you find this annoying you can disable it, but it's a much easier way of calling up the assistant than holding the on-screen home button.
You can press and release, or press and hold to speak to the Assistant a little like you were using a walkie-talkie. A third mode lets you double-press the button to launch Google Lens. Plus, thanks to far-field mics, you can say "OK Google" from across the room just as you would with a Google Home.
One of the most noticeable design features is the screen notch. It's by no means the only Android phone with a notch: Huawei's P20 series has one, as does the OnePlus 6 and Asus ZenFone 5.
Here the notch is a little longer than the P20's, but not as large as the iPhone X's - we've compared the LG G7 and iPhone X separately. The notch houses an 8Mp selfie camera and the earpiece speaker, plus an ambient light sensor.